Christmas Eve - December 24th, 2013

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year! No one was sick, there were no emergencies, just us 5 for a happy Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning.  (Christmas afternoon we did drive to South Carolina to spend Christmas night with Papa and Nana and stay with them for a week, that was wonderful, too. :-) )

 First, is our annual family photo around the Christmas Eve.  I love this picture.  I think it captures our family pretty perfectly.

 My 3 little angels around the Christmas tree before opening presents.  Brady is 5 1/2, Eli is 8, and Major is almost 2 1/2 years old.

 Our Santa, better known as Daddy.

 Major opens the first gift (since we go in age order).  He was a little shy the first time, but after that he would say presents! and rip into them.

 I love how sweet little Brady gets so excited.

 As I mentioned in a previous post, Major has proclaimed himself "Super Major" for about a  month now.  Both Eli and Aunt Kam got him a Super Man cape for Christmas.  How does he choose?  He doesn't.  He wears both .  ALL.  THE.  TIME. It was the best Christmas gift ever for him.  Thank you Eli and Aunt Kam!

 Look at this sweet jumping hug Brady gave his Daddy when his Daddy gave him a football card for Christmas.

 Aunt Bekah (Rachel's sister) made all 3 boys blankets for Christmas.  They are super soft and super cute. The boys love them!

 Eli got a Russell Wilson jersey from Big Daddy and Gran Betty.  I don't know how Russell Wilson became his favorite player, but he did.  And now that it is a week after Christmas, I basically wash it every night so he can wear it every day.

 Me with my Christmas Eve presents.  Eli made the plate I'm holding.  They are reindeer getting ready to ride off with Santa's sleigh.

 Brady, Daddy, and Eli had to sort out all their new cards before we could move on to our Christmas Eve movie.

 After opening presents, we always watch "The Polar Express" before going to bed.  This is a wonderful Christmas movie.  Here are the boys ready for the movie with their new blankets.  (And ready for some popcorn with M&M's, I might add.)

 When the movie is over, it is time to go outside and spread out the reindeer food.

 Then before bed, Daddy reads the boys "The Night Before Christmas".  This time it was read on the iPad because we can't seem to find our book...

 We set our goodies out for Santa and we're ready for bed.  I love all our little traditions at Christmas!

The Adventures of Chris the Elf - The Last 14 Days

Every night, Christ was very busy.  On December 11th, he put streamers over the boys' door.

 Then he made himself a hammock out of dad's sock and candles.

 He ate some of the cookies mom made.

 He drank syrup with a straw.

 He tried out dad's shaving cream and razor.

 He wrote a "ho ho ho" message on the boys' bathroom window.

 He tried out some of dad's clothing.

 He put toilet paper all over our Christmas tree.

 He stayed up all night watching movies and playing video games.

 He took a shower.

 He played the game "Memory" with Woody the cowboy, and won.

 He chilled with Rudolph in the stocking.

 He tried to use the fire truck ladder to reach the candy cane.

And the night of Christmas Eve, he wrote the boys a nice note and taped it to the game room door.  See ya next year, Chris!

 

Baking with Brady

I love baking with my Brady! He is a great helper in the kitchen! This Christmas, we made Oreo Truffles, cake balls, chocolate peanut butter pinwheels, and chocolate peppermints. Fun, fun!

 Brady with his beautiful Oreo Truffles.

Montgomery Zoo Lights

In Texas, we went to the Christmas Train every year.  There is nothing like that anywhere around here, so we took the boys to ride the train at the Montgomery Zoo and to look at the lights there.  Major was really excited.  He loves trains, and this was his first train ride that he could remember.

 We also let the boys ride the sky lift to see the zoo lights from above.  They said it was really cool.

 Keeping Major entertained while trying to wait for a train was a full time job.  This first picture is of Major saying, "cheese" with Bill.  Then we have Bill trying to distract him.  He kept asking "train now? Train now?" Waiting is not one of his strong points.

 Finally!  It's train time!

 The animal lights after the train were pretty cool, too.  It was a great family night!

I wasn't able to get any pictures of this, but the next night we took the boys to go see Christmas lights on houses and got some Sonic holiday chocolate peppermint milkshakes.  Yum!

Visiting Santa Claus - Take 2

On the 17th, we took the boys to Bass Pro to see Santa there, this time, with Daddy.  Major ran right up to him waving and yelling, "Hi, Santa! Hi, Santa!" I guess this Santa wasn't quite as scary as the other one.

 Here's little Major telling Santa what he'd like for Christmas.  We have no idea what he said.

 Brady tried to help this elf out of the snow.

 Bass Pro had some games set up around Santa, so the boys took some time playing the games.  Here is Brady shooting some ducks.

 Here is Eli shooting down some birds.

 Major didn't play games, he was too worried about the elf stuck in this gift box.

 Brady would now like a 4-wheeler for Christmas.  I believe Santa is fresh out of those.